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Composers
Schönberg
Berg
Glass
Cage
Boulez
Stockhausen
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Dodecaphony
A composition technique in which
there is a line of 12 notes of the chromatic scale, appearing serially,
and the musical piece is based on the repetition of this fixed order. Through
the logic of the 12 equally important notes, and the rules attached to
them, Schönberg
intended to offer alternative techniques to
the tonal system, in which one note is central. This is a-tonality.
The technique Schönberg developed in the early 20th century became one
of the most important methods in modern art music, also thanks to his followers
Alban Berg
and Anton Webern.
Serialism
A composition technique evolved
from dodecaphony,
which does not obligate a series of 12 notes but a line of several sounds
chosen by the composer (but no longer than 12). There is also the total
serialism,
in which every aspect of a piece is controlled by the serial pattern, not
only sound pitch, such as in the dodecaphonic system. Rhythm,
dynamics,
tempo
and so on - all derived of the original series.
Minimalism
Music based on a pattern repeated
over and over again with tiny (minimal) changes.
The influence to this trend came from both plastic art, when, in the 1960's,
there was a school of the same name, that worked with basic geometric structures,
and from the music of the East,
based on a hypnotizing repetition of patterns. Le-Monte
Young
conceived the ideas of constant repetition (repetitiveness), inspired by
John Coltrane's
free jazz. Steve Reich
(known for his famous drum piece "Drumming")
and Philip Glass
("Music in 12 Parts")
are two of the prominent artists in this school, which had a great influence
on popular music.
In the 1970's Stockhausen
wrote minimalist works, the most prominent
of which is his "Stimmung",
written for 6 singers.
Aleatory Music
Music based on random elements,
that is elements set by accident, in the course of composition or performance.
John Cage,
the father of this system, was influence by the musical traditions of the
east and Hindu philosophy, which he profoundly studied, and wrote pieces
such as "The Alterations' Music",
that caused a scandal among listeners, for being unordinary and almost
irritating in the way they were presented to the audience (in "4:33" ,
for example, Cage requires an undefined ensemble of performers to sit for
4 minutes and 33 seconds and keep silent. The music is the noise sound
around). Stockhausen
("From the
Seven Seas") and other composers were
influenced by the ideas of randomness.
Electronic
Music
Music created on electronic instruments
such as synthesizers, samplers etc. Boulez
("Repons")
and Stockhausen
("Hymns"
- Hymnen (Anthems)) are among the most important
composers in this field. Max Matthews
and Luciano Berio
("Thema"),
were also engaged for a while in composing electronic music.
Musique Concrète (Fr.) Concrete
music
Music prepared from recorded sounds
(from nature or man-made environment) recorded and arranged on tape.
A technique developed chiefly by Pierre Schaeffer.
The concrete music was later absorbed into electronic
music.
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